Tipton man who went on house-smashing rampage after argument over shelving walks free from court
A Tipton man threw a can of lager over his girlfriend, smashed up her family's home where she had fled to for safe refuge, choked a student female police officer and then punched her colleague whilst being Tasered, a court heard.
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Matthew Darby's rampage began over an argument about putting a shelf up and escalated within hours to him smashing her family's home up with a hammer as children cowered upstairs and ended with him screaming to police officers "Taser me then".
On Saturday, December 16, after 'tinkering' with his mental heath medication regime by buying sleeping tablets off his mate and washing them down with alcohol, Darby poured a can of lager over his girlfriend, and told her to kill herself because she 'was worthless'.
After she fled with the children to her family's home Darby's texted her to say if she did not return he would 'begin smashing up the X-Boxes with a hammer'.
When she ignored him, he sent pictures of him smashing the computers to smithereens, which were shown to Wolverhampton Crown Court.
The 39-year-old then made his way to her sister's home in Upper Church Lane where his girlfriend, children, her sister and her children had barricaded themselves in a bedroom such was their fear.
The prosecutor described the scene, he said: "There were then a series of massive bangs at the door. He demanded she brought the children to him, and then smashed every window in the door.
"He then shouted, 'if you don't come out, I will start smashing the big windows through', when they did not he did exactly that. Everyone in the home was terrified."
